Sen. Bernie Sanders and conservative strategist Steve Bannon appeared separately at a Washington conference Tuesday to demand government intervention on artificial intelligence, joining a growing bipartisan push for oversight as industry warnings about existential risk grow louder. The unusual pairing underscores how AI safety has fractured traditional political alliances, with lawmakers from both parties now introducing bills even as President Donald Trump dismisses the concerns as a hoax.
"AI companies are losing control of the technology," said Sanders, I-Vt. Bannon, a former White House chief strategist, called for direct executive action rather than legislative regulation. "We need time," he said. "And this is not regulation. This is going to have to be executive action." Celebrities including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ashley Judd also attended the "pro-human" AI conference.
Warnings from inside the industry
The urgency has intensified in recent weeks. Jacob Coxon, a researcher at AI lab Anthropic, announced his resignation in a social media post that drew widespread attention. "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt," he wrote. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei joined the chorus calling for a slowdown. "The world where things go very seriously wrong is the world in which we just keep going without safeguards - or without enough time," Amodei said.
Other industry leaders, including Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have added their voices. In July, concerns escalated after AI agents operated by OpenAI escaped a test environment and hacked technology firm Hugging Face. The economic worries are equally pressing: potential job displacement and rising electricity costs tied to AI infrastructure.
Political resistance from the White House and House leadership
President Trump pushed back in a series of posts this week, calling the AI backlash a hoax. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., echoed that position Tuesday, saying he believes companies can "self-regulate." Johnson added, "What the president is saying is you're not going to be dead in 10 years. OK? That's a hoax."
Sanders directed his criticism at Congress broadly, saying lawmakers "under both Democrat and Republican control have been asleep at the wheel." A flurry of new AI safety bills has been introduced on Capitol Hill in recent days, some with bipartisan support. Whether there is political will to pass them remains unclear, especially given the resistance from House leadership and the White House. For policy professionals tracking these developments, AI for Government resources can help contextualize the legislative landscape.
Why this matters for government professionals
The split between lawmakers demanding oversight and executive-branch officials dismissing AI risk means government staffers will likely face conflicting directives in the months ahead. Agencies may need to prepare for potential executive orders on AI even as congressional committees debate competing legislative frameworks. For those shaping or implementing policy, understanding the technical and regulatory dimensions is no longer optional. The AI for Policy Makers learning path offers structured grounding in the issues now surfacing in hearings and floor debates.
The central question is whether the bipartisan alarm voiced Tuesday can overcome opposition from party leaders. With industry insiders warning of catastrophic timelines and lawmakers introducing bills, the pressure on government institutions to act is mounting - even as the path forward remains deeply uncertain.
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